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This past Sunday was the Semana Nautica 6-mile Ocean Swim, a beautiful and challenging point-to-point swim between the towns of Goleta and Santa Barbara, California. This year's swim saw record participation of 45 swimmers, according to race director and SBCSA board member Jane Cairns.

While wind, chop, and water temperature (64F) were all relatively benign, a head current made for slower finish times and a more spread-out field. Professional marathon swimmer and Forum member Mallory Mead ( @mmead ) was the overall winner, in 2 hours 13 minutes - over 10 minutes ahead of runner-up Ed Smith. Diana Corbin of Terrapin Masters in Maryland rounded out the field in 4 hours, 59 minutes.

I'm posting this in a thread otherwise reserved for Catalina and Santa Barbara Channel swims because the Semana Nautica 6-miler is widely considered an excellent training swim for those looking to "step up" to a full-fledged channel swim. In fact the SBCSA specifically recommends this swim for our Anacapa Island aspirants.

I had the pleasure of kayaking for the event this year. Here's a brief GoPro video I shot:

Word out of SoCal is that both of last night's scheduled Catalina Channel swims were canceled due to conditions (reported 8-9 foot seas). This is interesting news because conditions are hardly ever bad enough to scuttle swim attempts (unlike the EC, for example).

FWIW, I looked at the SCCOOS data and I'm not really seeing it. Perhaps someone else can shed light?

Unfortunately, @Walter's swim ended with only 6 miles remaining (out of 40). Ordinarily I would just leave it at that, but Walter's 34-mile swim was the longest solo swim off the California coast this year by a good margin, and I think it was a hell of an achievement.

If Walter is inclined, perhaps next time he stops by the Forum he'll tell us about it.

The following account of my recent 34 mile aborted Santa Barbara Island swim is contributed at Evan’s invitation (thanks, Evan). If you choose to read this collection of mostly subjective impressions, please understand that I was not swimming with the intention of blogging, discussing or even recalling much about the swim.

Unfortunately, I didn’t feel great during the first several hours of swimming Sunday night into Monday, perhaps because I was coming down with the cold that I have now, three days on, which is also delaying my recovery. I wasn’t maintaining my usual steady stroke, instead inserting a bit of breastroke and backstroke here and there for a lazy stretch. Despite that early rough patch, I felt pretty good by sunrise and became increasingly confident throughout the day that I could do 40 miles in those waters until finally, 17 or 18 hours in, I was convinced that I could do it. Of course, I was actually ordered out of the water a couple hours after that. But I remain confident and, because gaining that confidence was the most important aspect of this particular swim for me, I consider the swim a success.

At around 19 or 20 hours, I began to notice the boat hopping around quite a bit more than it had been previously and doing a fairly poor job of keeping either a steady line or position on me. I was eventually told that I was not making forward progress against a current. The boat could not keep a line due to the combination of sea conditions and my lack of progress. It was dangerous and unproductive to swim near the boat under those circumstances. One of the observers put on her swimsuit and joined me in the water to act as my escort. I appreciated this very much. Still, I wasn’t able to make progress against the current and after about twenty minutes of that, the other observer instructed us to board the boat.

The end of the swim seemed rather abrupt, but I supposed then (and still do suppose) that the decision was made only after much consideration and worry for my safety on the part of the observer who called off the attempt. Although I did actually feel OK to continue swimming for at least the 3 hours that I would have left absent the current, I doubt that my slowed and weakened stroke was inspiring much confidence in anyone aboard the boat that I could do even that, let alone paddle in place for a long period or pursue an alternative route that might take me far to the north or south to swim around the trouble spot. In any event, I did not have the presence of mind to suggest such alternatives. So that was the end of it. As I said before, I considered it a success nevertheless - and still do.

Stats? Conditions?I didn’t collect much data before the swim and don’t have much more now because I haven’t tried to obtain it. I’m not sure exactly how long I was swimming or how far I swam. It was around 34 miles and over 20 hours. The conditions, apart from the current (and perhaps even that, had I been a bit stronger) were not worth mentioning and the water felt like it was in the upper 60s the entire time. I was a little nervous about being killed by a white shark at Santa Barbara Island where there were three fishing boats and the smell of dead fish. But as the swim became more tedious, that fear turned to hope, then to disappointment and finally, after sunrise, to thanks.

FeedsMy standard feed was a 12-13oz pre-bottled air-temperature maltodextrin and electrolyte solution delivered on a 30-minute interval via crushable water bottle rubber banded to an illuminated slack tether. I sometimes requested instead plain water or water with a little granola bar. The standard feed served me well enough and cheaply enough in the past, but I probably won’t use it in the future and don’t recommend it to others. Its simplicity is never fully appreciated (because I make the feeds ahead of time) and its economy does not make up for its undesirable flavor.

OtherI covered up completely with SolRx (purple and white tube) but still burned at the bottom left edge of my suit under my butt. I used Vaseline for my arm pits and neck, but still chafed a bit on both and between my legs and undercarriage where I did not use any lube, but should have. I wore a silicone cap that was a bit too tight and caused me to have a slight headache for several hours and pinched my ears until I rolled it above them once and for all. I wore Sweedish goggles that were pretty comfortable and not tight. I started with ear plugs but was thrilled when they fell out after a couple hours during a cap adjustment (litter bug!). I didn’t tell my support, however, about losing the ear plugs because I still wanted them to use the bull horn I brought when speaking to me - that thing was great. I wore clip-on LEDs instead of chemlights. In addition to sore muscles, chafing and the bit of sunburn on the back of my left leg, I came away with a sore tongue and a number of whiteheads on my nose and temple where, I believe, my goggles and cap crammed sunblock into my pores (yuck!).

Finally!If you are still reading this account and are not a relative of mine, then you possess sufficiently persistent optimism or tolerance for misery (either one will do) required to swim in the Pacific for 20 hours. I encourage you to do so – best of luck!

I'm not very popular around here; but I've heard that I'm huge in Edinburgh!